The present invention relates to a method for verifying the compatibility of the components of a wheel, especially a wheel that is capable of rolling temporarily under conditions of reduced pressure. The invention also relates to a device for carrying out this method. Motor vehicle constructors and tire manufacturers are attempting more and more to take account of the ever-increasing safety, comfort, and convenience demands of modern road users. This phenomenon is manifested, for example, by the commonplace occurrence of many types of device that were virtually nonexistent barely a few years ago, such as, for example, airbags, ABS brakes, ESP devices, etc. More particularly in the field of tires, it is seen that there is an increasingly wide range of products allowing extended mobility, that is to say the ability to continue rolling over a certain prescribed distance during a loss (partial or sometimes even total) of pressure in one or more tires. To allow rolling under conditions of loss of pressure, certain types of tire use reinforced sidewalls, which can withstand large flexures or deformations for an acceptable number of cycles.
Other types of arrangement involve the use of a safety support to support the interior of the tire tread during a loss of pressure. With this type of configuration, the insert plays a fundamental role in ensuring the correct functioning of the assembly. Therefore, the correct insert must be placed in the tire cavity during mounting. Although it is highly unlikely that an insert of inadequate size or of incorrect type will be inserted during the factory mounting of a newly mounted assembly, this type of situation can nevertheless arise (albeit exceptionally) during a subsequent disassembling of a mounted assembly, if a genuinely competent person does not perform the mounting. Such a person will systematically check the mutual compatibility of the various components of an assembly before the final mounting. In certain cases, this manual verification method may possibly prove to be insufficient.
The present invention is directed towards proposing a novel method and a suitable device for ensuring this type of verification. To do this, the invention proposes a method for automatically verifying the compatibility of the components of an assembly comprising a rim, a tire capable of being mounted on the rim and a safety support intended to at least partially support the tread of the tire under conditions of reduced pressure, the method having the following steps:
identifying each of the components of the assembly that it is desired to verify by means of automatically checkable identification elements;
after mounting the assembly, verifying at least two of these components by transmitting the corresponding identification elements to a data management unit;
checking the mutual compatibility of the components corresponding to the identification elements received by the management unit;
detecting any situation in which at least one of the components is incompatible with one or more of the other components;
generating a suitable signal in the event of an incompatibility.
Such a method makes it possible to ensure that the correct components are assembled together to constitute a mounted assembly. A strict respect of the technical requirements, for example as regards the capacity for rolling at reduced pressure, the autonomy achieved, etc., is thus targeted.
The transmission of the identification elements corresponding to each of the components to a data management unit is advantageously carried out by means of reading/interrogating the data corresponding to each component.
According to another embodiment, the identification elements corresponding to each of the components are transmitted to a data management unit by means of emitting the data corresponding to each component by an active label. They may be, for example, battery-powered transmitters, autonomous labels, etc. In this case, there is no interrogation, but rather transmission of the data (for example at regular intervals) from the labels to a receiver to which is connected the management unit. Advantageously, the identification elements are memorized in labels. According to one example, the labels are of electronic and electronically checkable type. The suitable signal in the event of an incompatibility is advantageously a warning that may be displayed on a display. Preferably, a suitable signal xe2x80x9cOKxe2x80x9d is emitted when all the compatibility conditions of the various components are satisfied. A suitable signal is advantageously emitted in the event of non-recognition of at least one of the components. In such a case, it is likely that this element will be unknown, that is to say that it is not included in the compatibility table as being able to be combined with another element.
According to another advantageous example, an appropriate signal is emitted during the non-detection of the support, or during the absence of support. By alerting the driver to correct the situation, a situation is avoided in which the extended mobility system would not be fully operational.
The compatibility is advantageously checked using a compatibility table. The compatibility table comprises, for example, data for all the components liable to be arranged on the same assembly. The compatibility table may preferably be updated. Thus, for example, during a servicing visit, the data in the management unit may be updated, to integrate the compatible products recently appearing on the market.
According to one advantageous example, the method comprises a simplified pre-test consisting of comparing the components detected at time T2 with those detected at time T1 where, for example, T1 and T2 correspond, respectively, to a first and a second powering up of the data management unit.
Advantageously, the method also comprises a measurement of the pressure in the tire cavity. This pressure measurement may be combined with a test relative to reference values. These reference values are established as a function of the detected configuration of the assembly and as a function of the temperature.
The method preferably involves verifying all of the components of all of the active wheels of the vehicle. The system may also be simplified by omitting the verification of a possible spare wheel not mounted for rolling.
The invention also involves a method for automatically verifying the compatibility of the components of an assembly comprising a rim and a tire capable of being mounted on the rim, the method having the following steps:
identifying each of the components of the assembly that it is desired to verify by means of automatically checkable identification elements;
mounting the assembly, and thereafter verifying at least two of these components by transmitting the corresponding identification elements to a data management unit;
checking the mutual compatibility of the components corresponding to the identification elements received by the management unit;
detecting any situation in which at least one of the components is incompatible with one or more of the other components;
generating a suitable signal in the event of an incompatibility.
Advantageously, the assembly also comprises a safety support intended at least partially to support the tread of the tire under conditions of reduced pressure.
Finally, the invention involves a device for verifying the compatibility of the elements of an assembly comprising a rim and a tire capable of being mounted on the rim, the device comprising:
an identification element combined with each of the components of the assembly that it is desired to verify;
a transmission means, capable of allowing the transmission of data between each of the components and a management unit,
a management unit capable of:
identifying any condition of incompatibility of at least one of the components of an assembly;
generating a signal corresponding to the condition of incompatibility.
Advantageously, the assembly also comprises a safety support intended at least partially to support the tread of the tire under conditions of reduced pressure.
According to one advantageous example, each component comprises a label capable of containing the identification elements for the component. The labels are, for example, of electronic and electronically checkable type.
Preferably, the assembly comprises a pressure detector capable of measuring the pressure inside the tire cavity.
The transmission means may be of transponder type or alternatively of radio transmitter/receiver type. The transmission means preferably comprises one or more antennae.